NEWS

We were delighted to see our Enerphit project in Sydenham achieved 0.67 in air tightness testing this week. The project involves the full retrofit of an existing 1960s terraced house including the super-insulation of walls and roof, replacement of existing windows, installation of two light shafts through the house and construction of a guest bedroom/study at roof level. Many thanks to Paul Jennings for completing the test.See here for full project details.

Graham Bizley will be speaking in Frome on April 2nd 2019 at the Architecture Club under the title ‘In Search of a Rural Architecture’.

A relationship to the rural landscape is deeply embedded in the British consciousness, yet the debate on architecture and the built environment focuses almost entirely on the city. In this talk Graham will explore the contemporary identity of rural areas, how ideas about the countryside evolve in the face of social, economic and political changes, and how we might build in the countryside in a way that is sustainable and enhances a sense of place.Do come along.See the Architecture Club Facebook page for details and tickets.

The concrete work and timber framing are almost complete at our refurbishment of a grade II listed house in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. In the new hallway, three in-situ-cast concrete portals frame the front door and the openings into the rest of the house. At the rear a new extension is being made from an exposed spruce timber frame on a concrete plinth that retains the higher garden levels behind. The extension will be clad in zinc and is due for completion in Summer 2019. See herefor more project details.

We are delighted that Prewett Bizley Architects have reached the longlist for the 2019 Ashden Awards. The awards highlight some of the boldest thinking and biggest breakthroughs in sustainable energy and are globally recognised as a mark of excellence in the field of green energy.

Upgrading the UK’s existing buildings is the most effective way of quickly decarbonising our built environment, Retrofitting is becoming more widespread across the UK, despite a lack of government policy to encourage it.

Winners will be announced in July. See the Ashden website for more details.

We received listed building and planning consent last week from Mendip Council for repairs and extension to a grade II listed farmhouse near Pilton in Somerset. The corten steel-plate ceiling of the extension is proposed as a contemporary take on the 15th Century cross-beam ceilings elsewhere in the house.

Robert Prewett will be talking at the Espacio Gallery in Bethnal Green on 14th December 9:00 - 10:30am.

Wishing your home wasn't so drafty and so expensive to heat? Dreaming of comfort, low energy bills and a tiny carbon footprint? Then do come and listen to the expertise of two architects who can help you make your home full of comfort and joy.

Our refurbishment of the Common Room at the Oxford university Department of Education opened this week. The space has been re-imagined as a ‘garden room’, enhancing the qualities of the 1960s building and better connecting the room to the garden outside. For full project details see here.

Work is underway on our refurbishment of the Common Room at the Department of Education at Oxford University. This is the final sample board. The design aims to improve the social and learning environment by enhancing the qualities of the 1960s building and better connecting the room to the garden outside. Completion due in September, in time for the autumn term.

Works are proceeding quickly on site on our certified Passivhaus project in Somerset. The first phase of spray-insulation has been applied and the Internorm windows were installed in August. The first air-test was carried out this week and achieved 0.36 ACH, well below the Passivhaus requirement. Congratulations to our hands-on client! See here for project details.

We're delighted that Patrick McEvoy, who works in our London office is one of ten winners in a competition organised by the London Festival of Architecture to design a bench for a public space in the City of London. Installed in Jubilee Gardens, Houndsditch, the bench is a memorial to a dog called Geoffrey Barkington. Cast in self-compacting concrete the bench weighs over a tonne.

Graham's review of Feilden Fowles' Food Production Campus for Charlie Bigham's is in the June issue of Architecture Today. Set in an abandoned quarry, not far from our office in Wells, the building breaks the mould of the typical shed with a bold response to its post-industrial surroundings.

On April 28th architecture critic Owen Hatherley will be leading a walking tour of Poundbury, the Prince of Wales' model extension to the Dorset town of Dorchester. Following the tour Graham will be taking part in a panel discussion in the Brownsword Hall. I'll be trying to get past the issue of style to explore whether it is a real model for sustainable development. Tickets are available from the Architecture Foundation here.

Planning permission and listed building consent have been granted by Camden Council for extension and complete refurbishment of a grade II listed Georgian house in the Bloomsbury Conservation Area. We are currently working on detailed design and work is due to start in Spring 2018

The competition showcases projects completed in the last two years across Greater London, seeking designs that demonstrate exceptional innovation and cost-effectiveness in the delivery of better living space for Londoners.

Prewett Bizley Architects have been appointed by Oxford University Estates Services to carry out a Feasibility Study for improvements to the buildings occupied by the Department of Education in Norham Gardens, north Oxford. The Study will look at how the buildings could be altered to provide more flexible, modern and convivial spaces that might encourage a fertile exchange of ideas and project an identity commensurate with a world-class institution. Read more here.

We are delighted to announce we have been named Sustainability Architect of the Year at the 2017 BD Architect of the Year Awards. Thank you to all our employees and collaborators for your hard work, and our clients for your determination to make a difference through commissioning us.

Our extension and retrofit of a terrace house in north London has been completed. The project has reduced the energy use of the house by almost 80% via breathable and ecological insulation approach. See here for more details.

Our retrofit of a grade II listed Georgian house in Bloomsbury is featured in the Architects' Journal this week. Carried out in collaboration with Emily Bizley Interior Design the project involved conversion of the building from offices to a single family house with an almost EnerPHit level of energy performance. Click here to read the article.

As part of Open House London The Kyverdale House will be open for tours from 10am – 1pm on Saturday 17th September. The Kyverdale house was designed in 2003 and shows how a light and spatially inventive home can be made on a small and awkward shaped site. Around 750 buildings will be open to the public during Open House London over the weekend of September 17 – 18th.

The scaffolding is down on our almost-Passivhaus project in Devon. The house is clad in larch, with triple glazed windows from Green Building Store. The external porch and terrace structures are built using oak and Douglas fir from trees felled on the site prior to construction.

Our recently completed retrofit and restoration of an 1820’s Listed Georgian townhouse in Bloomsbury has made it to the shortlist for the AJ Retrofit Awards, ‘Listed Building less than £5million’ category.

We are pleased that the recently published RIBA book 'Renovations: an inspirational design primer' by Richard Wilcox, includes our 80% house completed in 2010.

The house is living up to its name year in year out, requiring even less energy than we predicted. For those who are interested it uses around 70 kWhr/m2 annually (primary energy excluding the PV), well below the passivhaus target we were aiming at during its design!